On this page
-
Text (2)
-
8fc* THE Xr^A-DEJEU pjfa, 339, SHMaaimm ...
-
TEE ERENCH IN ALGERIA. Qam story of Capt...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Social Science Association. The Nati...
plored . Aad under social eoosiomy lies the relation o £ * he enapkfy' -er to tike employed , of tlie citizen to the Stale , of the siiperaruMiated or helpless citizen to the able-bodied . The first uros §» ecti © rather confirms our apprehension that the new scientific society is only to deal empirically with , proper rules for the best management of things as they are . "" The object of tfoe National Association is * as its name implies , to aid the development of the social sciences , and to . guide the public mind to the best practical means of
promoting the AmeiwiBaent of the Law , the Advancement of Education , tbe Prevention and IRepr ^ ssion of Crime * t & e B-efornaation . of Criminals , the Establasbaaantof due Sanitary Regulations , . and the recognition of sound principlesinallquesifcii & ns of Social Economy . " But amongst the general 'Committee we find John S & mtaj & t MEtacu the philosopher who
first used , the word ' sociology / South-wood Smutb ^ , wiao has &> glaaaoe far beyond his own science of physic ; JT < ohn . Seudost , one or" the new iphyeiologicsal moralists ^ Iiord SEkAFTESBxrB , xandthe . Eeverend ~ Fb , ebh » ic Ma . ubice , philosophers ia spite off their bigotry ; Aifbed JEEixii , an hereditary'sociologist ; Pakdst & ton , that stmdent wiho aaa made so nauch progress ever since he eaiieared the bad school of the
House oi CommoaiS ; John IUtsselIi , preserving the freshness of youth in his maturest studies . ; Abthttb HaIIiAM lEiLtFosr , amoiiher student ; Wxlili & m . Grii 3 ssDONE , -who is ambitions to he raoTe teacher tham student ; GodeeHch , for whom we may reverse that express-ion ; Abthujb Hei ^ s p ladeed w « must break short , or we might particularize nearly the whole general commitJjee .
In tibe -dejpartiaiental committees will be found the saaae tnames Tedistribated , and others not less tcoE & spicuous—Professor Ivevi , Abthus -Symokbs , G ^ EOEau Dawson , Ho- ; bace Mann , O . IB . Adikebles :, and above all , M . D . Hill . There is one advantage in the specific objects "wihdch are laid before the society . The general committee combines a various and wide amount of influence , standing in different classes of society , in different parts of
the country , in different sections of inquiry , and representing the most opposite opinions . Specific objects will be the first means to combine these varying influences and opinions , and profounder inquiries will naturally follow after the men liave become emboldened at their work . Should the Society terminate "with nothing but suggestions as to the beat regulations for sua existing state of things , it " will be an incorporated bathos , and will be punished by the ridicule that it will draw on
itsel £ M may have some difficulty in avoiding the opposite danger , of launching into wide generalities , into theories as yet not sufluviecntly warranted , and imto bootless inquiries . But lEreBident Bkottgheam is a man capable bath of loosening too great . restraint and of -applying a ? estraint when , necessary . Nor do we find in the chairmen , of t-Ue . departmental committees—Johjh ILussEiiL for luriapnvidence , 3 ? akjust « iton for education , the JBialiop of liONcoN for punishment and reformation , Lord . Stahlux for public health —any Bigm of the opposite-qualities .
Perhaps the conamitteo -winch has the heaviest burden thnown upo * it , and , wiith some ^ exceptions ,, shows the least Bign o £ atrexvgth , is that of * Bocial economy ; ' Lord Lxttjei / jl'on bears the jjepcute of high intellect and generous feeling , but Le also appears to bo Bomewhat under the restraints of sectarian opinion . Many . members of this committee , winch ought to go far in ita acopp , aro oertaiiily wedded , to tike ehortcoming philosophy of modern economy ^ bu * in the list wo see stronger alien , such as Qodeuioji , CHi 3 ti . Es Bj ^ a ^ , Am : hub , IIeips , and Joaiwr SrruAaa : Mix . ! ..
8fc* The Xr^A-Dejeu Pjfa, 339, Shmaaimm ...
8 fc * THE Xr ^ A-DEJEU pjfa , 339 , SHMaaimm 5 , 1857 l _ y ^ j |^ HWH _ BW ^ " ' ~ ^^ w ^———_^„_ — ________!____* ± ™ -- '" ' ¦~| ' 1
Tee Erench In Algeria. Qam Story Of Capt...
TEE ERENCH IN ALGERIA . Qam story of Captain T > qirka . u shows Aiow Frenchmen can acfc as well as write the romances which , seem , to us intense and exaggerated . The French military chief of an Arab bureau , he practised savage vices with all the cunning of civilizatioii . He was eoafse , strong-minded , and active , dominating the indolent minds of the Arabs—a Napoleok
in . his small wayc the Aga Ben Abdai / - l ah was < chief of a tribe—* a man of weight in the province of Oran : a feud arose between the two . The ^ Frenchman was jealous of the local influence of the Aga , and , it is alleged , also afraid of the discovery of peculations which the JLga might denounce . The imputed motives of the snen are obscure , but the main facts are clear .
On . the 12 th of last September ( nearly a year ago ) the diligence between Tlemcen and Qran was stopped by Arab marauders . Amongst the passengers was the Aga Ben AbdailIiASe . The other passengers , after a short contest , fled , and when they returned with help , they found in the coupe the dead body of Ben Ajbdallah , his secretary mortally wounded lying by his side . The crime of course caused great sensation in Oran , and Montattbak , the general of the
district , urged Doineau to discover the murderers , for that officer was , it appears , an active inaa in that line , Doinejut said , " I suspect the tribe of the Beni Nar ; " the general indicated Tlem-cen as the home of the criminals ; but the widow of Ben Abdallah , breaking through the reserve of the harem , rushed into the street and accused Aga Bel Hadj . This man is an Arab counterpart of
Doinea . it ; to the low cunning and savage greed of the Arab he add 3 the politeness and ' philosophy' of a Parisian . He is an officer of the Legion of Honour , and has been nine years in . the service of France . He had been grossly insulted by the murdered man , who had said to him , " Oh , son of a dog!—it is your father who is a dog . " " Whereupon Bel Hadj laid his hand upon his beard , and swore he would have the old man ' s blood .
Shortly after he was arrested , Bel Had j , and seventeen other Arabs , confessed that they had murdered Ben Abdallah , but that Captain Doineatj directed them , partly using Ins official power , but relying mainly , it is clear , on the force of his personal character . If the eighteen Arabs who made this singular confession were of one story , their evidence would be satisfactory ; but they lie like chambermaids . Each day of the
trial betrays new contradictious . Bjll Hao ) j is , however , the prince of prevaricators . He tells on the Grab day a circumstantial story , accusing Doineau . On the next day , during the iexamination of another accusing witness , the Frenchman , exclaims , of couxse ' with emotion : ' " Let Bel Had j be again examined . It is impossible that that man , whora I have never injured , land whose good services to France have won him ihe rank of
Aga , and the decoration of officer of the Legion of Honour , should not return to the truth . " This curious way of taking evidence is , it seems , allowed ia French courts , and Bel Habj ia called ; ogain to c-onfront the Kodja Si Mohamed , who has sworu against DoizriSAU . Buju Habj is asked Again to tell tho truth : " Did Doinea . u command them to kill the Aga ? " Bel Hadj hesitates , then
turns to tho ICodja , umd pressing his hands on hia breast , and in a voice of remajrlc & blo sweetness , says to him , " Now that wo aro in the face of death , should wo accuse the Captain ? " This , of course , produces ' lively sonaation . ' But tho next day this silken Aga again accuses Doinjsau ; and so ho goes on from prevarication to prevarication , and ' truly lies on , to the close . ' One day of tho
tnal he quits hia place , approaches £ kt Wo GJenerals present , kisses their hands , an £ bowing weekly and with a sweat amilel eaya to G-eneral Montauban . « I am weary of Til this ; take thy sword and pass it through mv body » Quite an Arab Hamlet in the wifeness-box ! The only trustworthy witness against the accused is Bel Kheib , an Arab officer in the French service . He has never varied in hia testimony , and his evidence is directly to the point . He also bears testimony , as do all
the witnesses , to Doeneatit's strength of will and for < 5 e of character , subduing all opposition . "He was our Sultan , " said the witnesses , even the Cadis and A ^ as ; " . who could resist him ? " He ordered summary executions by the dozen , and though General Beau-tori * owns to having directed many of those , some remain to stamp Doineau as a military Judge Lynch , giving short . shrift to Arabs who had offended the lawsor himself !
, , The French officers who were examined , to character , or to subsidiary points of the evidence , seemed all eager to exculpate Doi * neait . General Montauban suggested an eclatant exculpation : he advised a friend to let the prisoner have a pair of pistols ; suicide -would save the epaulettes front th & touch of the executioner . The pistols were not sent , and Doineau has been found guilty and condemned to death . It is said in Paris
that the sentence will be changed to imprisonment for life . The whole story is a strange revelation of the manner of French government in Africa . Our gallant neighbours see in as unscrupulous and rapacious as ourselves in India iu our early career ; but with a difference . Ovtc worst offenders in . peculation were in old times the factors , or first civil servants of the Company , but the French have combined the soldier and the swindler . There is also this
difference : the French government of Algeria is good in system , paved like Hell with good intentions , but peopled by blue devils iu red trousers . This very trial reveate a willingness to do justice to the Arabs on the part of the civil authorities , while the evila proceed froui the crimes of individuals . In
India , on the contrary , there has been a system bad in plan and bad in faith , ably and 011 the whole kindly administered by energetic generous Englishmen . The cold cruelties of Indian rule came from civilians high iu offi . ee—all the genial sympathies and good tact from military instruments and subordinates . There is not much to boast of on
either side ; though , in individually emulating our vices , the French , as becomes that apt nation , have bettered the example . It is also curious to note in this and other examples , what a thin veneer is modern civi lization . ' Scrape a Parisian—you find an Arab beneath . ' The accomplished officer of ; tho JLegion of Honour hears the doom of death quite unmoved ; but when he hears tho additional sentence that bis cross of tlic Region of Honour is to be removed , un soupir ctouffo
s'echappe de sa . poitrine , et son regard se lovo vers lc ciel . ' Affecting ; yet this man lies in wait for his foe like a tiger , and rules the -wild beasts around him like a king among brutoa . On the other side of tho g lobe , En Boa as , with a namo like a Victoria Theatre villain , aud ' a face of feminine beauty , ' singularly combines the cool American p leading for hia lifeand the pirate murdering scores
, by his own hand . If it humiliate us to tlunt that modern accomplishments , com mencing with ' French , aud jurisprudence , ' may endin robbery and murder , wo take heart , seeing every day that some men unite tho mental superiority of our time and nation to a physical endurance mid bravery of soul no savnge can show . Look at JSaiah . Buooiod , burned
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 5, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05091857/page/14/
-